


20 Leagues at the Bottom of the Pool

by dogtit



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Modern Fantasy AU, Strelitzia/Elrena (background ship), and namine is an art student in her third year of uni, elrena and nami are siblings, i am Many months too late for mermay but listen; time is fake., kairi is a mermaid at a moral seaworld equivalent, near death experience (drowning), tags to change IF this gets updated (it may remain a oneshot....), the world is ending. make out with a hot mermaid at the bottom of a pool.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26433649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogtit/pseuds/dogtit
Summary: “Her breath control must be amazing,” Naminé finds herself saying out loud.“Holy shit,” Elrena says, and when Naminé turns her head she sees that Elrena has been filming her. “Please be more gay. This is so fucking funny--”Naminé feels the heat rush to her cheeks. “P-put that away!”“No way, I can’t miss you being all goo-goo eyed over the pretty mermaid.” Elrena’s voice turns mockingly sweet; “Does my wittle baby sishtew have a cwush on Awiel again?“--On a perfectly average afternoon in July, Naminé falls in crush with the cute actress in a mermaid costume at a water park show. Nothing fantastical happens at all.
Relationships: Kairi/Naminé (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	20 Leagues at the Bottom of the Pool

**Author's Note:**

> i'm satisfied with this as a one shot, because its simple and fun, but i may write more! please be warned: there is a scene where naminé nearly drowns. please be aware of that before proceeding!!

Supposedly, there are few things better than cool shade on a beautiful, July afternoon. 

Naminé isn’t exactly the most...outdoorsy person. She much prefers the solitude of her apartment, or the university’s art building and all of its open studios. She prefers corners of controlled sunlight and the help of air conditioners while she paints, or people watching to figure study, or practicing perspective with architecture. She’s not a total introvert, though. She likes spending time with Roxas and his friends, too.

Certainly, she’d never expect herself to willingly sit in a (shaded, thankfully) stadium at the Radiant Garden Water Park and Research Sanctuary, waiting for the fabled _Princess of Light_ mermaid showing. Already, Naminé can tell that, while the _rest_ of the theme park is dedicated to education and preserving the wonders of marine and coastal life--both the flora and the fauna--this particular section is extravagant showmanship. 

Of course Naminé’s seen blurry videos and pictures on Instagram. An, admittedly, beautiful red headed actress in a dazzling costume, frolicking in the water with one of a set of twins--a lean brunette with a show stopping smile, or a surly looking black haired boy. The actress is, apparently, an amazing swimmer, near Olympian in her ability to breach and pose in mid air while her legs are constricted by her mermaid swimming suit. It’s probably a bit of sleight of hand; some propulsion equipment in the tail, or hidden boosts given to her by one of her fellow actors.

All this to say that, no, Naminé is not one to judge or belittle a career opportunity. And, well, if the big ‘show’ attraction of the park is one handled entirely by human actors, rather than captured dolphins or cramped orca, it can’t be _that_ bad. But not enough to sit in July heat, in a crowded venue that makes Naminé long for home. 

No, the show isn’t the reason she’s here. The reason is the family sitting beside her; her older sister, Elrena, and _her_ wife Strelitzia. And her brother in law Lauriam. Strelitzia had won four tickets in a raffle, and--since such seats close to the pool yet free of the splash zone, along with a perfect time slot in the peak of park season were _expensively_ hard to come by--Naminé would have felt silly for turning down a free offer. Especially since her family was so invested in it. 

“It’s almost time!” Strelitzia breathes. Her graceful hands capture one of Elrena’s, the smile on her face bright enough to blind the unaware. “I’m so _excited!_ I’ve wanted to see this show for forever…!” 

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Elrena grumbles, but the quirk of her lips speaks of besotted love and gentle worship. Elrena could be an unholy terror to the rest of the world--adolescence had nearly broken Naminé and Elrena both, on the subject of their relationship--but around a select few, she softened for all to see. 

“I thought you’d make fun of me!” 

“I would have,” Elrena teases, “but I would have got you tickets _way_ sooner. Maybe celebrate an anniversary with it and everything.” 

“My god,” Lauriam drawls. “Scraping the fish out of the barrel with that one, are we?”

“Did you just _mangle_ a fucking phrase just so you could make a pun?” Elrena retches, not noticing the few parents turning nasty glares her way. There _were_ plenty of children in the audience, after all. Naminé mouthes ‘sorry’ for Elrena’s benefit, because her sister would _never_ apologize if given the opportunity. 

Above them, the stadium’s roof suddenly shutter, cutting off the glare of the sun and leaving only the ambient light of the glass pool to illuminate the crowd. The royalty free music that had been on a soft thrum in the background suddenly swells--Naminé recognizes the melody almost immediately as the score _Main Titles_ from _The Little Mermaid_. Was this actually allowed? Legally? It seemed too on the nose for Disney to allow such recognizable audio for a performance. 

Spotlights click onto life, as a young man strides forward with his arms outstretched. The nice twin, Naminé recognizes. His bodysuit is black and red, accented with Radiant Garden’s logo on front. He has a whistle around his neck and a microphone headset that gives only a _tiny_ bit of feedback as he clears his throat. On cue, the music quiets enough to allow him to speak.

“Well, hey there! We’ve got quite a crowd today!” He laughs, genuine enthusiasm for his job turning the sound into a delight. “My name’s Sora, it’s a pleasure to meet you all! Have we been having a good time today?” 

The question, much like the performance soon to come, is most likely for the children’s benefit. Still, Naminé lets out a holler and claps along with the rest of the audience; even Elrena begrudgingly claps. 

“That’s _great!_ Let’s get right to the show, then--oh! Wait, sorry.” Sheepishly, Sora rubs the back of his head. “Some rules, first! Please no flash photography, for all the performers’ safety. Kids can come up to the pool walls if they want, but please no banging on the glass. Nursery pool visitations will be open thirty minutes after the conclusion of the show, so please keep it nice and orderly when coming to visit our Princess! Sound good, guys?” 

He puts a hand to his ear, leaning forward with exaggerated eagerness. He nods with satisfaction at the roar of agreement that comes his way. 

“I see we have some familiar faces in the audience! But, for all of our new friends, let me give you a _little_ background on my best friend, the number one mermaid in all the seven seas!” 

He gestures. The spotlight and ambient pool light fade. Behind Sora, screens flicker to life, showing an animated cartoon to follow along with his tale as the music begins to swell again. 

Sora narrates theatrically: “Twenty three years ago, our founder Ansem found a pearl lost and alone on the beach, and the oyster it was spat out of laying not too far, either! He picked it up and took it home, intending to turn it into a gift to bring to his late wife. 

“But!” 

The cartoon shows a caricatured Ansem--a bearded gentleman, Naminé notices--dropping his pearl into a pail of water. The pearl suddenly grows, and unfurls like a lotus flower; a baby-sized creature lays within, shimmering with rays of light. 

“He dropped the pearl in a nearby bucket of water, and it turned out to be an _egg_ , holding a baby mermaid inside of it! Stunned, Ansem picked up the baby girl, and vowed to raise her as his own. That’s why he built this very stadium within Radiant Garden, you see! Because as his Princess grew, she wanted to see the outside world beyond the borders of her bathtub pool, and meet as many of you guys as she can!”

There’s a flicker of _something_ in the water. Naminé blinks when she sees it, a split second shimmer, maybe. From _what_ …?

“What better way to meet new friends,” Sora says, starting to back up toward a cue only he knows, “than with a _dance!_ Put your hands and fins together, for our one and only _Princess of Light!_ ” 

He puts the whistle to his lips and blows twice; the music swells to a spellbinding chorus and as the cymbals crash together, the lights flare to life. 

Timed perfectly, the Princess leaps up from behind Sora in an athletic spiral. Children scream with glee; adults gasp and point. The mermaid actress dives and faster than expected, begins to swim in graceful arcs and circles at the pool. The iridescent shine of her scaled costume blends colors like a prism, but Naminé breathlessly things that, somehow, _pink_ is the most dominant of them all. She’s a lightborn blur, a dazzling spectacle. 

She follows the music like she was born for it; the Princess breaches the water like a dolphin, long, auburn hair braided back and flaring with dramatic arcs in every twist of her fin, every whiplike crack of her tail. 

Naminé sees her smiling through the entire thing, even though the chlorine of the pool _must_ be stinging those pretty eyes. Maybe that’s why she’s leaning forward in her seat, slack jawed and breathless. Naminé has never seen such _love_ crafted and poured into every millisecond of a performance like this, and not from someone who looks to be about her own age. 

Eventually the music comes to its end, and the finale sees Sora taking the Princess’s hand mid jump to join her in the water; his whistle and headset put away while the mermaid’s acrobatics dazzled the audience, no doubt. 

They swim down together at the front of the pool’s windows, striking a pose for the horde of children standing there and waiting for them. The two wave with their free hands, and then they break apart. Sora swims up for air and the island stage; the Princess drifts a little down, mouthing _hi_ to every toddler she can see.

“Her breath control must be _amazing_ ,” Naminé finds herself saying out loud. 

“Holy _shit_ ,” Elrena says, and when Naminé turns her head she sees that Elrena has been filming her. “Please be more gay. This is so fucking funny--” 

Naminé feels the heat rush to her cheeks. “P-put that away!” 

“No _way_ , I can’t miss you being all goo-goo eyed over the pretty mermaid.” Elrena’s voice turns mockingly sweet; “Does my wittle baby sishtew have a _cwush_ on _Awiel_ again?“

“Stop being an ass!” Strelitzia hisses, and swats Elrena on the arm. “Give me the iPhone.” 

“Babe! No!”

Lauriam has dissolved into helpless laughter that is swallowed by the thunderous applause. Naminé’s head whips around to see that Sora and the Princess are both on the stage, the latter perched on a half submerged, fake boulder. Naminé’s mouth goes dry, because at least in _motion_ the Princess’s undeniable beauty can be attributed to her skill, her power. Now, on display like this, Naminé is forced to confront her in stillness. 

How the light seems to shine not just around her, but from _within_ her. She doesn’t even look winded, her head sweeping to see the whole of the audience to greet them with that everlasting, starlit grin. Fins at the sides of her head--an odd design choice for a classical mermaid, Naminé will admit--glitter with the same, pearlesque sheen as her tail, though the modest top piece is a simple and understated design much like Sora’s, just in pink. Either those are pasted scales or extremely waterproof makeup patterning up her arms, around her neck, catching even more light. 

The Princess of Light has more than earned the stage name. 

“Wasn’t that exciting?!” Sora gushes, his voice projected again. Though his wild hair is a little droopy from his dip in the pool, the enthusiasm with which he speaks defies gravity itself. He’s like an overenthusiastic puppy. “So, this next part is gonna need a little participation from our audience. If you want, please make your way down to the bottom of the tank! Remember, be on your best behavior.” 

He removes his headset to talk to the Princess one on one, but Strelitzia is standing up, thrumming with energy. 

“I’m going down there,” she declares. 

“Letzie, I think he meant the kids,” Lauriam says, not as discouragement but as a fact. Indeed, most of the people starting to head toward the glass--those who weren’t already down already, at least--are children and their parents. But Naminé sees more than a few young adults coming down with their phones. 

“But--!” Strelitzia wrings her hands. “Oh, but I’ve never _done_ this before, I just think it’d be fun--” 

“Then go on down, babe,” Elrena encourages. “I can record anything up here for you.” 

“You wouldn’t join me?” Strelitzia pouts. 

“No offense, but if I wanted to be crowded by toddlers, I’d just move back in with Lauriam and his boyfriend.” 

“Rude.” 

“I’ll go with you,” Naminé offers. She ignores Elrena’s catlike grin. “C’mon. Let’s go.” 

She takes Strelitizia’s hand and together they manage to make it down the stairs. Of course, the kids take priority--neither of them are so entranced with mermaids and spectacles that they forget how to be polite--but the pool is big enough for everyone to get a chance without sacrificing someone’s ability to view it. Naminé knows her sister; no doubt Elrena is filming and making snarky commentary. At least with Strelitzia in frame, it’s bound to not be _too_ annoying. The perks of being the sister in law’s favorite.

Sora’s talking again; Naminé doesn’t really understand the words, not because he’s quiet, but because the Princess has dove into the water again and is now slowly swimming back and forth. Whenever a child waves, the Princess doubles back, swimming down to say hello with waves and air--hm--water kisses. 

She moves with an almost inhuman grace through the pool, her tail propelling her like she’s the genuine article; maybe she’s a gymnast when she’s not a mermaid? Naminé wonders what sort of tech’s in the tail itself. Maybe the long, gossamer like fins trailing back have something to do with it. Or are they just decoration?

The Princess swims past them. The waving lights above sweep across Naminé at the same time as the Princess looks up. 

For a moment...it’s almost like their eyes meet. Then the moment stretches, and Naminé has the honor of watching the Princess’s professional smile slip into something like genuine wonder. This close, Naminé can see gill like attachments to her neck, fluttering with the movement of the water. The ear fins--they must be sensitive animatronics, or, or something, because it almost looks like they’re moving to keep the water in circulation around said gills. The Princess’s hair drifts around her in the lack of movement.

The attention to detail is astonishing, but this close, Naminé can see that the Princess has the most intense, violet eyes. Those must be some crazy good contacts…

_Wow,_ the Princess mouths. Naminé feels herself flush, a hand moving to cover the jump of her heart. 

A shrill whistle cuts through the moment. The Princess’s ear fins perk up and then she’s flashing back up the surface, leaving behind little bubbles in her wake.

Naminé sways on her feet. Breathes. Thinks about if it’s morally just or not to develop an instant crush on an actress whose mask fell just a bit upon seeing her, like Naminé was, for that instant, the prettiest thing in the room. 

“Oh, wow,” Strelitzia says. 

Naminé squeaks with startled fear. Strelitzia is smiling at her kindly, but with the deep hidden mischief of someone too polite to start their relentless teasing in public. Two for two? Naminé cannot believe herself right now, nor can she believe her luck. Naminé can’t even find it in her to say anything; she buries her face in her hands, and Strelitzia laughs and pats her on the back as a consolation prize. 

“Do you think Elrena got that on camera?” 

“Knowing my wife,” Strelitzia says, “she absolutely did.” 

In fact, above the filler music and crackle of the microphone, Naminé can hear Elrena’s shrill cackling now. Fuck.

The next segment of the show seems to be a sing-a-long and dance. Sora’s been leading the kids through the lyrics and dance moves while the Princess has been entertaining those below. Now it seems like it’s about to begin in full. 

_Swim this way, we’ll dance and we’ll play--_

Oh, Elrena’s going to _hate_ this, Naminé thinks. 

It’s not a _bad_ song, but it’s definitely one meant to be repeated by kids on the way home to sell clicks on iTunes. Sora dances on land, as the Princess copies him underwater; lots of swaying, some flipping and twirling from the Princess, and the stadium chorusing about ‘finny fun’. Naminé claps along and Strelitzia even manages to dance with a few of the kids around her, their parents watching with endeared exasperation. A few other performers have come from some sort of backstage hidden behind the screens and modeled rock formations; some have fish puppets, or costumes, and a few even start to control underwater drones to play along with the Princess, giving her jellyfish to swim around like an obstacle course. 

Naminé doesn’t think about how, every so often, the Princess will...will _look_ for her, as if that chance meeting of eyes still lingers. How silly; maybe they’ve met each other at university? Naminé would like to say that she wouldn’t forget such a lovely face, but the theatre buildings are on the other side of campus, and Naminé isn’t a social butterfly. It’s fully possible that they’ve crossed paths hundreds of times in neutral spaces--the dining hall, maybe even the dorms--and this recognition is second hand. 

Or. Oh no. Oh fuck. 

What if the Princess has seen her online dating profile. Naminé’s blood runs cold and she nearly turns and runs away out of instinct, but then the Princess does such a perfect corkscrew spiral at the end of the song, sending a mist of sparkling water up into the air. It happens to show off the definition of her abs. Not that Naminé’s looking. She’s _not_ , okay? 

(She is.)

Naminé and Strelitzia wander back to their seats for the rest of the show. Strelitzia gushes about how pretty everything is, Lauriam nodding with his big-brother-patience and Elrena taking pictures of everything. Naminé watches the Princess and her acrobatics alone, and wishes so desperately that she had thought to bring her sketchbook, her watercolors, _anything_ that she can frame later, preserve in perfection. 

All too soon, the show is over in a fantastic, show stopping display of the Princess’s swimming prowess, ending with her half suspended from the water in a pose that matches Sora’s. As the music rolls back into the royalty free playlist, and the clapping comes to a halt, the Princess returns to her rock and Sora begins to talk, letting guests know where to find the nursery pool for the children to take a swim with the actress. Naminé stands up with her family as they begin to head for the isles, one hand on Elrena’s shoulder to let her sister guide her without tripping. 

She can’t help it. This will...probably be the last time she gets to see the Princess of Light, seeing as how Naminé is still in university, and--while not broke--would never be able to just afford tickets or even a season pass for an entire park just to see one show. 

The Princess waves and blows kisses, her chest heaving--not that Naminé is looking _that_ closely, but--and she starts to unravel the braid of her hair, letting it free. It curtains around her chest and shoulders, longer than Naminé was expecting--it must roll down to mid back at the very least. 

Like magic, though, somehow--somehow, Naminé catches her eye. The ear attachments swivel toward Naminé as if she’s a cat more than a mermaid. She’s watching Naminé back, eyes locked together...at least until Naminé is out of the stadium. 

The brightness of the one o’clock sun, compared to the shuttered stadium, makes Naminé yelp. She’d probably have been expecting it, had she not been staring at the actress so hard. 

“You good?” Elrena’s hand is cupping her elbow.

“Um--y-yes, yes, I’m good.”

“Great. Holding up okay emotionally, there, Casanova?”

“What!” Naminé jerks her eyes open and squints. She wishes she could blame the flush across her cheeks on sunburn, but Naminé overprepares any outing she goes on, and has been slathering sunscreen on herself by the hour. “D-Don’t call me that! Oh my god, why is it suddenly _any_ of your concern!” 

“Because I have _never_ seen you make such goo-goo eyes at anyone since middle school,” Elrena declares. “As your sibling I must terrorize you about this. It’s in the contract.”

“I’m going to sell you for a cornchip,” Naminé mutters underneath her breath. 

“Speaking of chips,” Lauriam interjects smoothly, putting a steering hand on Naminé’s shoulder and offering himself as a buffer, “I’m starving after all that excitement. Don’t be gross,” he warns when Elrena opens her mouth, “I want something greasy and absolutely unholy. Do you think this place has Disney level turkey legs?”

Eventually they find an open set of benches beneath some trees to enjoy their food; club sandwiches and chips all around, although Naminé settled for a bar of Seasalt Icecream. She’d eaten a pretty sizeable lunch before they’d left for the show, and the heat demands the satisfaction of a cold treat. She’s done before her family, of course, but she’s not up to much conversation. She’s used up a lot of social energy in dealing with the crowds and being teased, lovingly. The other three talk more among themselves than with Naminé.

It’s not that she hates it, really. Elrena has had years of practice reasserting and relearning Naminé’s boundaries after their tumultuous youth, and the keen-eyed empathy of Strelitzia would never let her go too far regardless. It’s just that Naminé has always been...a bit of an outsider. No matter where she goes, she never _fits_ ; she can stick just fine, move between friend groups and adapt nicely, sure. She’s got friends she keeps in contact with, and she’s pleasant. 

But Naminé won’t deny that she is, maybe, a little bit lonely. 

They throw away their trash and, tummies filled and their show seen, it’s time to leave. Their passes don’t grant them much more in the way of spectacles for the park, and while it _is_ gorgeous, Naminé knows that none of them are really feeling up to staying over their time limit. It was a nice afternoon, though, and the drive to and back will be littered with jokes and good cheer. Naminé will have to go on her sister’s Twitter and see all of the embarrassingly gay images of herself, and she will have to retweet them anyway. 

It happens, entirely by chance, that the closest exit takes them by the Princess of Light nursery pool. 

They cross a bridge with a low, ornamental and hip heighted railing. The shallow pool can’t be more than four or five feet deep, and Naminé notes that the mermaid Princess is already swimming and splashing with toddlers, their shrieks of laughter and delight reaching into the air among cries of seagulls and the humming chatter of the park. Attached to this tiny nursery pool via a gate is a deeper and currently empty swimming pool; the sign posted over there proclaims that the seals will be using it to play in an hour or two, and curious onlookers are welcome. The babies must swim in the shallow end, Naminé guesses, while the larger animals take advantage of the latter.

…Naminé doesn’t mean to look again. She doesn’t. 

She’s halfway across the bridge when the urge becomes unbearable. She stands close to the railing and looks back as Elrena and the others keep moving for a few steps. She’ll just take a second or two. Just enough to appreciate the delicate way the Princess swims with her little charges. Even from this far away, the sparkle of her tail is like a beacon; as if Naminé is lost adrift, and the Princess her living lighthouse. 

“Naminé?”

She looks up to see Elrena and the others about ten feet away, amused but not angry. 

“Let’s go home,” Elrena says. 

It happens so quickly.

She hears the hiss of wheels on the concrete of the bridge. Outraged curses from parents and startled cries from kids. A boy yells and then a heavy body shoulder checks Naminé from behind. She whirls her head--sees a beanie, straw yellow strands of hair sticking out of it, a scarred face--and then her hip mashes into the railing. The momentum and force send her backwards. 

Naminé screams; Elrena echoes it with her name, the syllables wrought raw with fury, with terror. 

It’s not a long drop, no. But here is the thing; even from a regular jump from a diving board, landing wrong in water still _stings_. Here’s the other thing. 

Naminé has never learned to swim.

The moment her back hits the water, she’s stunned enough to lose what little breath she still had in her lungs. By the second the water has covered her face-- _salt water? that’s an odd choice…_ \--she’s certain that she’s going to die. Force and momentum carry her down, and the back of her shoulders gently graze the bottom of the pool. Naminé hangs, suspended, in the depths. Her lungs burn and, on instinct, when she inhales, it’s water. It burns and she thrashes weakly, watching the wavering sun on a surface that’s too far away for her to ever reach again. 

There’s a distant crash, like another body hitting the water. Then, like a miracle in flesh, the Princess’s face hovers over Naminé’s own. Her clever hands pinch Naminé’s nose shut while the other grips at her chin, and then--then their lips are sealed together. 

And the strangest thing happens. 

Naminé feels the water _sucked_ out of her lungs, like the Princess inhales it; then when she exhales, blessed oxygen sweeps in to fill Naminé again. The Princess’s loose hair curls around their faces like a cloud of blood, and Naminé wonders if this is how dying dreams work. Because either this sweet, amazing actress has just traded her life for Naminé’s, or she’s trusting Naminé to get them both to the surface. 

Which is pointless, because Naminé can’t swim. So. Dying dream it is. 

She lets the oxygen spill out of her slowly when the kiss ends, arms curling around the Princess’s shoulders. She’s selfish enough to want another from her underwater phantom, as she waits for death to claim her. To Naminé’s pleasant surprise, the Princess does; again, keeping her nose pinched, and her lips parted, breathing oxygen into Naminé’s chest. 

A moan leaves her. Naminé has never been kissed before and this is _so_ nice, so if her dying brain is going to let her tongue kiss the hot actress at the water park she dies in. Well. Her gravestone will not read coward.

She tangles her fingers in rich, thick hair and kisses her Princess _properly_ , like she might have if this were another world, if Naminé had managed to meet her on the street and gotten her real name, spent time with her. This is how Naminé knows that reality is fake; the Princess inhales out of shock, because there’s no mistaking the desperate and longing way Naminé slants their lips together. The hand on Naminé’s chin slowly slides down her neck, petting, drifting to her hip and gripping. The weight of the Princess’s body pins Naminé against the bottom of the pool. 

Naminé can feel the answering vibration of a moan against her chest, where the Princess’s chest meets her own. Where legs should be tangling together, instead Naminé feels the surprisingly warm slide of scales and powerful muscle, as that gorgeous tail curls around Naminé’s left leg. The waves and movement of the water beg for them to move together, like tides and currents and the inevitable deep beyond.

Every time Naminé thinks she’s lost all the air left, the Princess gifts her with more kisses, dragging them out into eternity. How poetic, Naminé thinks. That she began her life cradled by the water of the womb, and that her life ends surrounded by water once more. 

Also, it’s really fucking hot, if not a little creepy, that she’s hallucinating an actress turning into a real mermaid and making out with her. She’s about to shrug and say _oh, well_ , when suddenly the Princess untagles them, blows air into Naminé’s lungs one more time, and then clamps a hand over Naminé’s mouth. 

“Okay!” the Princess says, panting in the water, her voice coming crystal clear. The gill make up at her neck pulses in time with each frantic breath. “Oh, wow, _okay_ . That was...really...I had no idea kissing was like that! But I really have to get you up to the surface, now, or it’s going to be _so_ hard to explain this.”

What. Naminé’s eyes boggle. 

“Also, can you keep quiet for me, sunshine?” The Princess grins sheepishly. “I uh, will have, _so_ much to explain to Papa as is.”

_What._

“Okay, keep hold of that oxygen for me,” the Princess commands, and then she’s scooping Naminé close to her chest. Her tail propels them up, and then before Naminé can actually process what’s happening, they’ve broken the surface. Naminé coughs and gasps and sputters; beyond the rush of blood in her ears, she can hear the panicked cries turn into cheers, hollers. 

“I’ve got you,” the Princess murmurs in her ear. Naminé feels her eyes flutter. “Just hold onto me, okay? Can you do that for me, sunshine?”

_I will do anything for you if you keep calling me that,_ says Naminé’s very intelligent lesbian brain. Her mouth says, “Hhhuhh,” because near death experiences turn you into a goddamn moron, apparently. 

“So _cute_ ,” the Princess whispers. She brings them toward the edge, where a crowd of park security, Sora, and a man in a labcoat stand waiting. Ansem, Naminé recognizes. From the story. 

The story about the mermaid. 

The story about...

“Give her room,” commands Ansem. “Be gentle, be careful. She wasn’t under long.” 

“Papa,” says the Princess, “there’s um, another, issue.” 

Ansem looks to the Princess. The Princess, who Naminé notes is worrying a kiss raw lip, looks sheepish. Ansem must deduce what that look means, because his face pales and his amber eyes turn onto a waterlogged and half conscious Naminé. 

“She _knows_?” 

“I uh,” the Princess says, as the park security begins to reach down for Naminé, “I had to give her air. A, a lot. She couldn’t keep it down.”

_Couldn’t keep my tongue out of her mouth._ Naminé feels the mortification galloping two steps behind her incredulity. Because if--if she’s. If she’s not _dead_. And if this subtext is anything to go by…

This is a real life honest to God mermaid holding onto her. 

“My name’s Kairi, by the way,” the Princess says, as Naminé is hauled out of the pool. 

“Nnnna, N--” Naminé blinks sluggishly. “N-Naminé.”

“Oh, that’s _so_ pretty!” The Princess, _Kairi_ , grins. Sora hovers by Naminé’s side, gently propping her up. Naminé can hear Elrena’s screeching incoming. “Naminé. _Naminé._ I knew you had a pretty name the minute I saw you.” 

“Hey, Kairi?” Sora says, strained. “You should leave.” 

“Oh! Shit, yeah.” _The mermaid says shit?_ Naminé thinks dizzily. Kairi puts a finger to her bottom lip, ostensibly a gesture to be _hush hush_ , but all Naminé can see is the pink swell she was locked with just minutes before. “Remember, sunshine! Our secret!” 

Kairi dives into the water again and begins to swim and breach back for the nursery pool.

“What the _fuck?_ ” Naminé says, before she falls unconscious. 

**Author's Note:**

> -the kh original characters are divorced from the disney, like most modern aus.  
> -i had to listen to swim this way for like an hour to fully immerse myself in the Emotions elrena would go through. i cannot be killed. i have ascended.  
> -vanitas is in this, though his mention is so small that i didn't tag him. he's sora's twin brother and an absolute asshole. his sets with kairi are less 'harmony', like with sora, and more competition and one upping the other.  
> -sora's story is 100% accurate. this is, indeed, how kairi was 'born'. ansem built a water park and research center so his adopted mermaid daughter could have a day job and hide her in plain sight. there is no child experimentation going on. canon ansem is dead to me, this ansem is a cool old guy.  
> -kairi, seeing namine: oh holy shit. i wanna kiss her.  
> -kairi roughly 2 hours later: HELL YES I AM KISSING HER!


End file.
